The cel animation tool is used in conjunction with After Effects’ paint effect to create traditional hand drawn animations.
This tool creates celluloids which will receive animations. You can add celluloids on a single layer by checking the Single Layer checkbox. In this case, each celluloid will be a new paint effect on the selected layer. If it is unchecked, Duik creates a new solid with a paint effect for each celluloid; they are automatically numbered.
After creating a new celluloid, you can use a brush to draw each frame of the animation.
The tool can add an onion skin, automatically adjusting the duration of the brush strokes, using the exposure set beneath, in the box between the next and previous frame buttons.
The onion skin’s duration (in frames) can be set next to the box used to activate it.
The In Opacity and Out Opacity define on which side the onion skin is applied, and the value of the first frame of the onion skin’s opacity.
The Get current Onion Skin button gets the current composition’s onion skin parameters.
Apply onion skin changes those parameters in the current composition.
The animation exposure is set at the bottom, and it is advised to always use the next and previous frame buttons from Duik to navigate in the time of the composition; this way Duik can automatically adjust the duration of the brush strokes.
This value can be changed whenever you want.
It is still possible to manually adjust the duration of the brushstrokes, then Duik will not change it, but will still add the onion skin when needed.